Update: read the latest information about the timetable to reopen Greenwich Park.

This summer, Greenwich Park hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Equestrian and Olympic Modern Pentathlon events.

The Olympic events took place from 28 July – 12 August and the Paralympic events from 30 August – 4 September. View the Greenwich Park venue maps

The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) worked closely with The Royal Parks, local residents and businesses to ensure that work to prepare for these events has the minimum impact on the Park and on Park users. Most of Greenwich Park remained open until 7 July 2012, when it closed until 4 August in order to prepare for the Games. Access to areas of the Park will be reopened as soon as possible after cross-country day. The National Maritime Museum will remain open the entire summer.

This page is designed to keep you informed about the London 2012 Games in your area and provide you with the information you need to plan ahead for the Games.

Closure of The Avenue in Greenwich Park from 11 June

To ensure the health and safety of Park users and allow construction work to continue as we prepare for the London 2012 Games, The Avenue will need to be closed to vehicles earlier than previously notified.

Access restrictions relating to this closure are detailed below:

Motor vehicle access: Vehicle access to The Avenue will close on 11 June until 1 October.

Cycle access: From 11 June to 6 July, and from 8 September to 1 October, access to The Avenue for cyclists will be possible between the hours of 6am and 8.30am and then from 5.30pm until Park gates close. The Avenue will be closed to cyclists as previously announced from 7 July.

Pedestrian access: Pedestrians will be able to walk alongside The Avenue through a clearly marked route until 7 July, when the majority of the Park closes for the Games, and then again from 8 September.

What will happen and when?

April

On 2 April, work on the installation of the temporary arena for this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Equestrian and Modern Pentathlon events began in Queen’s Field (facing the Queen’s House).

Queen’s Field and the two main pathways running between the Avenue and the Queen’s Field will remain closed until the temporary facilities are removed in November. The other pathways in this area remain open.

You will still be able to move between east and west, for example between St. Mary’s Gate and the Children’s Playground/Creed Place Gate. You will still be able to get to The Royal Observatory using Jubilee Avenue or via the Avenue or from Park Vista Gate.

May

In May, the area between the Queen’s Field and the Avenue will close to enable the installation of the broadcast and athletes’ area. Temporary fencing will start to be erected around the Park, ready for the Games. During the fence installation, some pathways may need to close for a few days for safety reasons, but once the fencing is in place, the majority of pathways in the Park will remain open until 7 July.

Some localised utilities work may also be required before the start of the Games. Whenever this occurs temporary fencing will be put up around the area and removed when the work has been completed.

Wherever a pathway closes, a notice at the location will clearly indicate alternative pathways.

At the end of May, some additional temporary facilities will be installed to the west of Lovers’ Walk for the water jump. The work will take approximately one week. However, access to this area of the Park will remain fenced off until the end of November.

June

Small sections of the Park, along The Avenue (near Circus Gate) and on Blackheath Avenue (near Blackheath Gate), will be closed for the installation of temporary structures. Access across this channel will be possible via three crossing points

July

Most of the Park will be closed to the public between 7 July and 4 August; The Children’s Playground and parts of the Flower Garden will remain open except on 30 July, Cross Country day. The Royal Parks will start reinstatement work in sections of the Park in August. 

Greenwich Park after the 2012 Games

The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) has made it a priority to ensure the full reinstatement of Greenwich Park as soon as possible after the London 2012 Games.

Reinstatement from August 2012

LOCOG will begin work to remove the perimeter fencing and reopen sections of the Park before the Paralympic Equestrian events begin on 29 August.

Some areas of the Park, like the Equestrian Cross County course route, will be handed back to The Royal Parks immediately after the event. Reinstatement for some of these areas will start as early as August.

Reinstatement in these areas will largely consist of sowing grass seed. As this work will be carried out during the grass growing season, it is expected that these areas will start to recover as quickly as autumn 2012. Habitat enhancement work, designed to improve areas of acid grassland, will continue throughout the reinstatement works. LOCOG contractors will work closely with The Royal Park’s Management team to carry out this work. Acid grassland is an important habitat for a wide range of insects and spiders. Funded by LOCOG, this work will provide a lasting legacy for Greenwich Park.

September to November 2012

Following the conclusion of the successful Equestrian and Modern Pentathlon events at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the London Organising Committee (LOCOG) is now beginning the task of removing all the temporary infrastructure to ensure the Park is handed back to the Royal Parks as agreed at the end of November.

The removal of infrastructure from Greenwich Park is a complex operation. Because of the large amounts of infrastructure that must be removed, and the large amount of construction lorries required to take equipment away, The Avenue is re-opening to pedestrians and cyclists a few days later than planned on 14 September.

Work will also continue in areas of the Park near to the playground and Maze Hill Gate, but the Playground will remain open. The tennis courts on the east side of the Park will now be handed back on 1 October.

Listed below are the timings for pedestrian, cycle and vehicle access:

Pedestrian Access from 8 September

• Blackheath Gate and Blackheath Avenue open to pedestrians
• On the west side of the Park all Gates are open. Access is available north-south along the pathway running from Creed Place Gate to Vanbrugh Park Gate. One Tree Hill, The Bandstand and The Flower Garden all open
• West-east access is possible, via Great Cross Avenue, with Crooms Hill Gate and Chesterfield Gate both open and also via Park Row Gate, the grounds of the National Maritime Museum and the Sammy Ofer pathway
• Access is also available to The Royal Observatory and the Pavilion Tea House, and there is also a viewing platform near the General James Wolfe Statue
• Jubilee Pathway will remain closed until 1 October to enable construction workers to safely remove the temporary grandstand and structures from Queen’s Field within schedule

Pedestrian Access from 14 September

• Charlton Way opens to the public
• The Avenue and St Mary’s Gate re-open to pedestrians
• All remaining Gates open to pedestrians

Cycle Access from 14 September

• Charlton Way, Blackheath Gate, Blackheath Avenue and St Mary’s Gate all open to cyclists
• The Avenue re-opens for two-way cycle access between 6am and 8.30am, and from 5.30pm until Park closing times.

Vehicle access from 14 September
Charlton Way, Blackheath Gate and Blackheath Avenue open to vehicles
The Avenue will remain closed to motor vehicles until 1 October.

North-south access as well as east-west access in Greenwich Park has been possible since 4 August, with more parts of the Park opening everyday to Park users. Both The Flower Garden and The Children’s Playground remain open. The National Maritime Museum has remained open throughout the Games.  From 8 September, sections of the Park between King George’s Road Gate and the Henry Moore statute will also reopen to Park users along with the remaining sections of Park between the Arena and the Royal Observatory.

November 2012 onwards

The site used for the main arena, the training area and the stables will be handed back to The Royal Parks in November when all of the temporary event structures have been removed. This is after the 2012 grass growing season. Some sections of this area in the north of the Park that are heavily used and that do not feature acid grassland will be re-turfed as soon as practical and depending on the weather. In areas that are rich in acid grassland, the appropriate grass seed will be sown. As the temperature of the ground is too low to support the germination of grass seed between November and February, The Royal Parks will use this time to prepare the ground for seeding in March 2013.

Local travel information

The London 2012 Games will attract large numbers of visitors to venues and their surrounding areas, which means some temporary traffic and parking restrictions will be needed.

Find out how Greenwich will be affected on our local access and parking plans page

For more information about how travel will be affected in your local area, including roads and public transport, please visit the Get Ahead of the Games website 

For more information

For more information call: 08000 722 110

For further information on The Royal Parks and reinstatement plans for Greenwich Park please visit www.royalparks.org.uk/london-2012

For details on the National Maritime Museum visit www.rmg.co.uk

View the Royal Borough of Greenwich website 

Get involved

From the Olympic Torch Relay and Local Leaders programme to the London 2012 Festival there are millions of ways to join in with London 2012. Events are taking place across the UK from now right until the end of the Games.

Find out how you can join in by simply visiting our Join In pages and see what’s happening in your local community.